Employee of the 1st Quarter 2016— Jeremy Jenkins

Jeremy Jenkins has fabricated and installed improvements to process and research equipment for three years for the Orange County Water District. During that short time, he has continued to impress management and colleagues.

With the completion of the Groundwater Replenishment System Initial Expansion construction in the lime area, it was noted that the functionality of the new lime addition processes posed more problems than consistent operation. Many blockages and hose breaks were experienced.

Maintenance staff met and discussed many ideas and a decision was made on how to proceed.

Jeremy took the lead on this assignment and made field changes that increased reliability, safety, and ergonomics—improving operation of the system and requiring fewer man hours for repair and maintenance.

Additionally while improving the efficiency was the goal, increased attention to detail improved the overall appearance of the Saturators and piping installations beyond initial expectations.

Jeremy has also built new Research and Development skids to further advance OCWD’s commitment to find the best technology for its treatment processes and reliability. Modifications to older research units continue as directed to increase efficiency in operation and maintenance. Always the innovator, Jeremy is currently building a Reverse Osmosis (RO) Pilot System that will enable the Research and Development department to test new RO membrane technologies.